This Golden Retriever Has An Adorable Obsession

Whenever Cesar Fernandez-Chavez walks his dog, Louboutina, or Loubie for short, around his Manhattan neighborhood, it takes longer than one would expect. That’s because the 5-year-old golden retriever usually won’t budge until she’s given Fernandez-Chavez a big, hearty hug around his legs.

It was week or two before Valentine’s Day, and Loubie and Fernandez-Chavez were at the tail end of a walk when Loubie stopped dead in her tracks and began pawing his hand. She kept on insisting he take her paw, so he took a grasp of it and she lifted herself up on her hind legs.

Fernandez-Chavez said that once she found her balance, she then crossed her other paw over the one he was holding.

So, there they stood, just around the corner from Fernandez-Chavez’s house, holding hands.

Fernandez-Chavez thought his pooch’s new habit was a little peculiar, but when he told his friends about it, he made a joke.

“I said, ‘At least I have someone to hold hands with on Valentine’s Day.’”

A week after Loubie begin insisting they hold hands whenever they went on a walk, they ran into actor Gerald Butler on the street. According to Fernandez-Chavez, Butler saw Loubie and him holding hands and came over to talk to them.

“And he was like, ‘This is not for real, what are you guys doing?’”

Fernandez-Chavez explained his dog’s new obsession and Butler asked if he could take a few pictures with Loubie. Fernandez-Chavez got a few snapshots of them as well and posted them to Facebook. The photos got such a large response from his friends, that someone suggested he start an Instagram page for Loubie.

A year later, in the spring of 2015, Loubie graduated from holding hands to giving hugs.

After Loubie began hugging strangers, her Instagram page started to become more and more popular. Fernandez-Chavez says that for the past year, most of the posts on her account are reposted from others who have photographed their encounters with Loubie.